The OutThink cybersecurity human risk management platform (SaaS) identifies, understands, and manages human risk, by improving the security attitudes and behaviours of employees in modern organisations
- Built by CISOs for CISOs, OutThink is a revolutionary SaaS platform that organisations of any size can use to target the source of 91% of all data breaches – human behaviour
- As the world’s first cybersecurity human risk management platform, OutThink combines machine learning, natural language processing and applied psychology to improve the security attitudes and behaviours of employees
- The funding round was led by AlbionVC with Gapminder, Triple Point Venture, Forward Partners and Innovate UK
- It will allow OutThink to continue expanding its leadership, and accelerate international distribution as its solution continues to gain market traction
October 19, 2022, London, UK: OutThink – the startup behind the world’s leading cybersecurity human risk management platform – has raised $10m in a seed stage funding round led by AlbionVC. Gapminder, TriplePoint Capital, Forward Partners and Innovate UK also participated.
Built by Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) for CISOs, OutThink turns security awareness on its head. Instead of treating human behaviour – which is the cause of 91% of data breaches worldwide – as the problem, OutThink treats it as the solution.
By innovatively leveraging machine learning, natural language processing and applied psychology, OutThink is able to measure the attitudes, intentions and sentiment of individuals within an organisation. The platform combines this human intelligence with data from integrated Microsoft Defender and Sentinel to identify poor security behaviours and deliver targeted, intelligent training – via email, Slack or Microsoft Teams (another world first!) – that not only educates, but also listens to and learns from people (human sensors).
Finally, OutThink presents live dashboards visually showcasing the overall human risk picture at a department, group or organisation level.
In this way, OutThink goes beyond traditional security awareness, revealing unique patterns of risk across an organisation and preventing data breaches like never before. Which is why it’s currently trusted by a growing number of large, complex organisations around the world including Whirlpool, Danske Bank, Rothschild, NatWest and other FTSE 100 brands.
A Growing Threat
Despite considerable investment in technical security controls, generic awareness training and phishing simulations, organisations today still carry a significant level of risk. A risk that is so substantial, the World Economic Forum ranks cyberattacks as one of the top three biggest threats of the decade, alongside weapons of mass destruction and climate change.
This threat is exacerbated by the growing prevalence of remote working, which increases both the attack surface, as well as the likelihood of successful social engineering attacks, even when multi-factor authentication (MFA) measures are in place – see the recent Uber breach.
The fact that cybercrime continues to raise prompts an important question – are conventional security awareness approaches working?
Founded by a team of CISOs, security experts, researchers and led by CEO Flavius Plesu – former banking CISO – OutThink puts People at the centre of cybersecurity.
To date, security solutions have centred around the technical aspect, almost ignoring the critical People component. OutThink is different.
OutThink invented a new category of software – cybersecurity human risk management – that takes a fundamentally different approach to raising security awareness and building digital skills for the 21st century.
“OutThink is probably the best cybersecurity training and awareness platform out there.” said Danske Bank’s Security Lead, Mihaela Hozmache.“ But this is not just about innovative technology. This is about people. What struck me from day one of working with OutThink is the professionalism and dedication of its people. I’ve never seen this type of commitment and level of service from any of the vendors and consultants I’ve ever worked with.”
Building on Momentum
The latest funding round will allow OutThink to continue expanding its technology leadership and accelerate international distribution. It takes the total amount raised by the London-based firm to $11.4 million, and follows a year in which its enterprise annual recurring revenue (ARR) quadrupled.
Flavius Plesu, Founder and CEO of OutThink, said, “The idea for OutThink was born out of frustration that first generation SAT & Phishing platforms were failing – overpromising and grossly underdelivering. Yet it also came from a passionate belief that if we engage people beyond traditional awareness, we can make them the organisation’s strongest defence mechanism. We are delighted to welcome AlbionVC, Gapminder and TriplePoint to our team as we create a new cybersecurity market category.”
Cat McDonald, Investment Director at AlbionVC, commented, “Flavius’s vision for OutThink and his ambition to overturn outdated and conventional thinking around cybersecurity are rapidly being realised because his team understand implicitly what their customers need. By designing a product with enterprise CISOs expressly in mind, OutThink has fast-tracked customer growth amongst some of the world’s biggest companies and we are excited to see what the team achieves next.”
ENDS
About Outthink:
OutThink brings the world’s first cybersecurity human risk management platform (SaaS). An innovative, disruptive solution, OutThink is the evolution of traditional security awareness training. Used by large, complex global organisations (incl. FTSE 100), the OutThink SaaS platform has been developed specifically to identify, understand and manage human risk. OutThink was built by a team of CISOs and researchers for security professionals who are looking to build more sustainable security and make people their strongest defense mechanism. Headquartered in the City of London, OutThink has a global client base all of whom are served locally from offices located in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. www.outthink.io
About AlbionVC:
AlbionVC supports visionary founders with long-term capital and scale-up expertise. Founded in 1996, today it partners with UK early-stage B2B software and healthcare companies. AlbionVC manages c. $1 billion of venture funds, currently invested in over 50 companies. AlbionVC is the technology investment arm of Albion Capital Group LLP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. www.albion.vc
